Malon's Summer Dreams
by Quita
Summary: /Ocarina of Time/ Malon's views and thoughts during the timeline of the game. Side-story spoilers.


My life was that of an ordinary farm girls', at least while I was young. My parents were loving and always gave me a lot of attention. Sadly, I had a few friends from around Hyrule that I could play with often.   
  
And then, there were the horses. Two stallions Blaze and Swift, the yearling filly; Lady, and there was Duchess, our brood mare. It was something about our fine horses that enchanted me; their shining coats, the way their manes flowed as they ran by. Soon, I found that I could spend nearly all day just watching the magnificent creatures with all their beauty.   
  
My father, Talon, made me stay a considerable distance from them, as he worried that I might have been hurt, but I knew our horses were gentle, despite their power and free spirits. I remember that my Mom had taught me a song one summer's day, she had sat with me on a crate by our house, overlooking the corral. As she sang the song to me, the horses stopped what they were doing and seemed to enjoy her singing. I vowed to her that I would never forget the song.   
  
My life had been fine so far, until a tragic day in late autumn when I was nine. My Mother had been sick since late summer, and had become worse, until . . . until she passed away. I don't remember much of the immediate events that happened shortly after. All I remember is that when the service was held in Kakariko Village Cemetery, I was crying my eyes out as my Dad held me in his arms. He was so upset but he was a silent weeper, as I was not. Also, I remember people whispering to each other about how sorry they were for me and many had told me that they would always be there for me whenever I needed help.   
  
The winter passed, and spring came around. Since my Father was still too upset to do most of his work well, he hired a farm hand, Ingo. Ingo was . . . grumbly, but he did his job well, and my father became somewhat lazy. My only comfort from my Mother's death was the birth of a chestnut foal.   
  
She was a beautiful filly, with the softest eyes and the cutest white markings on her face. I had first seen her in the stables a few days after Ingo had been hired. At first, the little filly seemed frightened of me, but I soon started to sing my mother's song around her and the foal began to trust me.   
  
My Dad later told me to name the horse, but that was a rather big task, only a regal name was worthy of her. I went into the corral and sat down next to her, who was lying down, and asked what she thought of certain names.   
  
"Let's see. . . Burgundy? No? Morgan?" I kept naming off a few good horse names, but she rejected all of them by snorting at me. "No? Then what will I call you then, little one?"   
  
Suddenly, it hit me. "Epona. . . . " I whispered to her, letting the name linger in the air. Epona was a name that came up in my Mother's song. The foal, er, Epona neighed her approval, and so I had a new friend. Calmly, I looked up into the blue sky and whispered thanks to Mom.   
  
Near the end of spring, I accompanied my Father to Hyrule Castle Town Market , as he was to deliver milk to the Castle. He went on with his delivery, as I waited by the fountain in the center of the market. Somewhat lonely after a while, I started to hum the song aloud, and a moment later, a boy with a fairy walked by.   
  
"Hey!" I had called out to him. He stopped and came over to me. "You're not from around here, are ya?"   
  
"Nope, Kokiri Forest. I'm Link and this is Navi" he said shyly as he pointed to his fairy.   
  
"Hi!" she spoke in a rather high-pitched voice.   
  
"Oh, you're a fairy boy from the forest? I'm Malon, my Dad owns Lon Lon Ranch, across from town. He went to deliver milk to the Castle, but hasn't come back yet."   
  
"Well, I'm off to the Castle too," he winked and looked at the large building in the distance.   
  
"Well then, I'll see ya again sometime!" I winked back as he smiled and walked off.   
  
Evening fell and my Dad still had not returned. I didn't wait by the fountain all day. I had browsed the Potion Shop and bought a Deku Nut, tried my luck at the Bombchu Bowling Alley and won a prize at the Shooting Gallery. Of course, I almost depleted a month's worth of allowance in the process. Wanting to go home after all that, I went to look for Dad, but the guard at the castle grounds entrance wouldn't let me in. I walked away, and waited around the corner of the dugout wall, humming the song again. Suddenly I heard someone shouting.   
  
"Hey, you! Stop! You, kid, over there!" a guard yelled as he ran after someone lurking in the shadows, and grabbed the person.   
  
Coming to the front gate, he opened it slightly and threw a boy to the other side. It was Link. He noticed me watching him as he picked himself up and dusted off his tunic.   
  
"Malon. . . " he paused, walked over and stood beside me. "Hi,"   
  
"Trying to get in?" I smirked, as he blushed, quite embarrassed.   
  
"The guards are pretty alert . . . " Navi added.   
  
" I see." I smiled. "Have you seen my Dad?" I asked, "He still hasn't returned."   
  
"I did hear loud snoring by the gates,"   
  
"He must have fallen asleep" I giggled. "What a silly thing for a grown up to do." Link seemed to agree with me. "Oh, I know. . . .wake him up with this!" I reached into my apron pocket and fished out a small egg. "I have been incubating it very carefully, so keep it warm, okay?"   
  
Link took the egg graciously, putting it into his tunic pocket. Navi analyzed it and exclaimed, "You got a weird egg! It seems that there is something moving inside of it!"   
  
Since there was a small vine growing by us, I realized that it would support his weight if he climbed it. The cliff overhead would surely go past the gate.   
  
"Gee, what a real nice vine that is. . . oh look, it goes to the top of the cliff." I stated, playing dumb, but Link caught on.   
  
"Thanks," he smiled as he started climbing. "Bye." he whispered as he disappeared over the top.   
  
"Bye. . . " I nodded. My eyelids grew heavy, and I drifted off to sleep.   
  
I was awakened by my Father gently shaking my shoulders. "Malon. . . wake up, sweetie. . ." he had said.   
  
"Daddy!" I yelled at him as I sat up. "I waited so long. . ." After we returned home, I had refused to talk to him for the rest of the day, but he finally talked me into a good mood. Lucky for him though.  
  
Later that day, Link appeared at the Ranch, his fairy still tagging along. He quietly came into the corral, but Epona, being scared, ran to a safe distance away from him as he came up to me.   
  
"Hey, it's the fairy boy from yesterday!" I joked, looking at the bottle of 'Lon Lon Milk' he had in his hand. "Play my Dad's 'Super Cuckoo Finding Game'?"   
  
"Huh? Oh, yeah. . ." he smiled, thinking about something. My Dad must have said something about me to him.   
  
"So. . . I heard you found my Dad! How did you like the Castle? Did you see the princess? Hee Hee!"   
  
"The Castle was huge!" Link exclaimed, we both sat down and he told me about his visit with Zelda.   
  
Remembering that Epona was still absent, I called out to her, she didn't budge. "Epona! Come here! It's alright!" still, she refused to come closer. "Oh, dear. It looks like Epona doesn't like you very much."   
  
"Oh. . . ." he seemed disappointed. "Is that colt yours?"   
  
"Yes, that filly is my best friend." I corrected him, as he blushed. Obviously not a horse lover.   
  
"Well, Epona is a good name for . . . her. How did you come up with it?" he asked quietly.   
  
"A song my Mother used to sing to me had that name in it, and I always sing it to Epona, so it fits." I sang a few lines to Epona, but she still wouldn't come closer.   
  
"That's a nice song!" Navi commented, flying around my head once, then returned to Link's shoulder.   
  
"I know! Why don't we sing it together?" I suggested.   
  
Link looked at me funny. "Me? I hardly think I can sing," he added as he whipped out a small instrument.   
  
"Oh, cute ocarina!" I squealed. It was pink, so I thought it was funny for a boy to have one of that colour. "Okay, this is what my Mother sang to me when I was young . . ." then I sang a verse, slowly, so he could mimic the notes on his ocarina. After he played the tune, Epona whinnied and came galloping over to him, seeming that she could trust him. A little while later, Link said he had to leave and as he walked away, Epona followed.   
  
"Epona!" he whined "I'll come back to visit some time, okay?"   
  
"Neigh!" she 'replied'   
  
"Bye Malon!" he called as he left the corral.   
  
"Bye! " I called back. "See ya. . ."   
  
As evening fell, I found myself day-dreaming of the future. I was dreaming of a knight in shining armor coming to the Ranch, and sweeping me off my feet. Of course, I imagined it would happen when I was a young woman, hopefully it would happen before I turned twenty. Then my senses kicked in. There were no knights in armor in Hyrule, just the Castle Guards, and they were much older than I was, and quite boring and conceited. But, I still thought it would be fun to be whisked away by a handsome knight in shining armor . . . someday. Maybe.   
  
Link visited again two weeks later, but it was strictly a business trip. He wanted to know about the Temple of Time. I wasn't sure what he wanted to know, but I told him all my knowledge regarding it. Basically it was a temple built by a great Sage, and a powerful item was sealed in there, somewhere. He thanked me, and left quickly. That was the last time I saw him as a child.   
  
Soon after Link disappeared, a Guerdo man by the name of Gannondorf managed to take control of Hyrule, and gave ownership of the Ranch to Ingo, who kicked my Father out. Ingo forced me to do laborious tasks, and if I refused, he threatened to treat the horses so badly, so I had no choice. Anyone who came to the Ranch was charged ten rupees to ride a horse for only fifty seconds. I found that quite a rip off, and that is also what got the people in Kakariko Village talking. This lasted for a long and painful time. I entered my teen years with a heavy heart, since I believed that Link was gone forever, and Epona was off limits to me by Ingo.   
  
One day, however, when I was seventeen, I was working in the stable when a young man came in and asked me what was wrong. I didn't even look up, I just kept my head down and stared at the floor. I told him the situation, but I never looked at his face, so I couldn't tell his expression.   
  
"I see, I'm sorry to hear that." was all he said and then left the stable.   
  
The next day, I noticed Epona was gone. Enraged, I stormed into the house, and startled Ingo as I slammed my fists on to the kitchen table. The rupees he was counting went flying.   
  
"Where's Epona!?" I yelled at him, his hard expression didn't change much, he just go even more upset.   
  
"I. . . gave her away." he stared me down and told me to get back to work. 'It's none of you're business anyway."   
  
"She was MY horse!" I exclaimed, almost going into a nervous break down.   
  
"Maybe, but she became MY property when the Great Gannondorf handed Lon Lon Ranch over to ME." he stated, walking out of the house. I ran to my room and started crying my eyes out as I lay face down on my bed. Now both of my best friends were gone, first Link, then Epona. What was next? I had no more friends to lose, since my other friends didn't bother to come around the Ranch anymore.   
  
The next day, I got up early, expecting to sneak away, but Ingo was in the kitchen, in his work clothes, not his usual fancy getup.   
  
"Ingo?" I asked, wondering what the heck was going on.   
  
"Good morning Malon!" he exclaimed cheerfully, and then launched into a speech about how honoured he was to be able to work at the Ranch.   
  
"Uh huh," I muttered when he was done, and then excused myself from the kitchen.   
  
I left Lon Lon Ranch, and walked across the field to Kakariko Village, which took me an hour, and visited my dad. He was staying with a friend of the family, and was surprised when I showed up at the door. He insisted that I joined him for lunch, so I entered the house and sat at the table. After the three of us had eaten, I couldn't take it any longer, so I asked my Father the question.   
  
"Dad, have you seen Epona. . . lately?"   
  
"No, I haven't. But I thought I saw. . . never mind." he paused, and obviously was not telling me something.   
  
"Oh, and the strangest thing happened. . . .Ingo's a nice person now!"   
  
"Oh? Well then, let's go home then," he suggested, so he gathered up his things, thanked his friend and we walked back home.   
  
About three weeks later, something wonderful happened in the morning. I was washing dishes in the kitchen, and suddenly heard galloping. Then a familiar neigh.   
  
"DAD!! Epona's back!" I yelled up the stairs, and heard him fall out of his bed with a loud 'thud'. I ran to the back door and whipped it open, almost ripping it from the hinges, but then I stopped in my tracks as I entered the yard.   
  
"Oh my God! Link?!" I couldn't believe my eyes. It was him! As well, he had possession of Epona. I was so happy that no one else had possession of her. "Oh, thank you! Thank you for saving her!" I cried happily and found myself running to hug him after he dismounted from Epona.   
  
He merely smiled and hugged back.   
  
"Hey Talon!" he waved as my Dad walked outside to see us hugging. My dad smiled at us and came over. I blushed and stood beside him.   
  
"So it was you who knocked some sense in to me at Kakariko?" Talon smiled. "Why don't you come in and rest a spell?" he suggested, grabbing Link in a play headlock, then escorted him inside. I froze again. As he turned around, He had a polished silver shield as well as a shining sword strapped to his back and was wearing silver gauntlets.   
  
I then remembered my dream from my child hood. Was it a prophecy?   
  
I hope I'll find out.   
  
-Malon   
  
*Author's Notes* Malon, and the other characters mentioned are copyrighted to Nintendo of America. Also, this is just my point of view of what could have been stretched to make it interesting, and the actually quotes are not necessarily 100% correct. Also, if you haven't played the game, 'Ocarina of Time', this story is based on a sub-plot in the game. Thanks for reading, because this story popped in my head at 12 AM, when I was trying to get some sleep! ^_^ ~ Quita 2001 


End file.
